Busch Stadium: It’s Nice to #StayHome

Social Distancing Day 30 (written mostly on Day 29) …

I’ve now gone almost an entire month without human interaction (with the exception of a brief exchange about ketchup with the Schnucks cashier on Day 17).

I’m watching a thunderstorm out my apartment window and thinking back to another stormy day – my trip to Busch Stadium, Ballpark No. 6.

And in the context of a stay-at-home order, when some people feel trapped at home and others miss wherever they consider home to be, this already multilayered homecoming tale takes on extra meaning.

No Place Like Home

I spent a good chunk of the first day of summer 2019 indoors at Ballpark Village waiting out a rainstorm. I didn’t mind. After five straight away games in 2018, I needed home-field advantage, even if it meant a long day of sitting and waiting.

It was my return to the place where I watched my team win a World Series, where I tasted my first ballpark hot dog, the gravesite of where I saw my first MLB game (old Busch) and where I fell in love with baseball.

This particular Friday (June 21) not only marked the return of summer and the return of me to my beloved ballpark but also the return of a Cardinals legend, a hero-turned-villain-turned-hero-again, to the place he once called home.

Albert Pujols spent 11 years in St. Louis, where he won two World Series, played in three, made nine All-Star Game rosters and was named National League MVP three times.

Then he left.

Going into this game, he had played seven and a half seasons for the Angels and hadn’t faced the Cardinals in St. Louis over that span … until June 21, 2019.

It was a series I (like most Cardinals fans) had anticipated for nearly eight years first out of anger and a desire for revenge, then out of respect and a need for closure.

Ballpark #6

The game itself, a Friday-night matchup with the Los Angeles Angels, was a bit overshadowed by the magnitude of what it meant a game with such a draw that it brought my brother back on a nearly four-hour, red-eye flight after moving to Oregon.

It was a hot ticket that drew a big crowd with even bigger ovations. And before the game, I had intended to have a big day in St. Louis. The weather said otherwise, so I skipped the Arch and sheltered in place with my family at Ballpark Village for nearly five hours.

While waiting out the thunderstorm, we ate at the Cardinals Nation restaurant and explored the Cardinals Hall of Fame and Museum, where I noticed this quote among an entire wall of quotes at the start of the museum.

“We’ve got the best fans in St. Louis. A lot of people want to come and play in St. Louis because of the way the fans treat us.”

Albert Pujols

The quote from a man who chose to leave provided the perfect backdrop for his own reunion with those fans years later.

After a deep dive into Cardinals history, we ate more food (snacks) at the Budweiser Brew House (but I also had to save room for a hot dog in the ballpark).

After much eating, standing, sitting, waiting and eating again, we bought ponchos, walked to the the stadium and made our way to our seats (section 447, row 9) for what was about to be a magical night.

Roller Coaster of Big Moments

The rain let up about an hour before game time as if it knew we had an important engagement that couldn’t be postponed.

The first time Pujols came out of the dugout to stretch, I didn’t notice him on the field. Neither team had taken batting practice, and the tarp had been removed only minutes earlier. But I heard the roar of the crowd and caught on as it grew louder (or maybe because my brother told me).

It’s one of those snapshots in time I wish I could relive, screaming along with thousands of people who once felt betrayed by their one-time hero who was now simply stretching before a game. The second booming ovation came when the starting lineup was announced.

But the third ovation was the loudest … and brought a roller coaster of emotions.

Unfortunately, Cardinals starting pitcher Michael Wacha had already given up a run and had a man on third when Pujols came up in the first inning.

Despite the less-than-optimal game situation, we (all 48,423 of us) went from annoyed to ecstatic, greeting Pujols with an ovation that was as long as it was loud and resulted in the most touching moment of the game a hug with Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina.

Pujols flew out to deep center. (I was relieved. If he was going to get a hit, I wanted it to be with no one on.)

Minutes later, Matt Carpenter led off the bottom of the first. Like Pujols’ extended at-bat, spurred by a crowd that wouldn’t stop cheering, Carpenter’s plate appearance was also interrupted. But this time, it wasn’t the crowd.

An ominous message played over the loudspeakers telling everyone to head to the concourse in a monotone (borderline eerie) voice similar to the National Weather Service messages that play on the radio during severe storm warnings.

But it didn’t say what kind of emergency was happening, and we knew it wasn’t weather-related.

Fans started filing toward the concourse in orderly fashion, impressive for how panic-inducing the situation felt. (Unspeakable thoughts like bombs and shootings raced through my head.) Luckily, before it was my row’s turn to leave, the public address announcer told us it was a false alarm, so everyone sat back down.

Game on.

In a matter of minutes, nearly 50,000 people went from frustration with a starting pitcher to pure adoration of a former superstar to thinking our lives might be in danger and back to wanting to win a ballgame again.

Game Highlights

The Cardinals ultimately ended up winning 5-1, but the box score took a back seat to the moments that made up the game. (And no, I wouldn’t look back on this game as fondly if the Cardinals had lost.)

Along with probably 30 minutes worth of Pujols ovations and a game-stopping emergency alarm, a couple other notable things happened (as in I literally made note of them on my phone).

First baseman Paul Goldschmidt hit a foul ball out of the stadium during his second plate appearance. (Think about that … out of the stadium.) He pulled the ball down the third base line and over the upper deck, making him the only player known to have accomplished this feat in the stadium’s 14 seasons.

And Wacha (a career .093 hitter) got a rare single to right field to add to a solid night on the mound, giving up just one run on five hits over six innings of work.

Left fielder Marcell Ozuna was the hero of the night (aside from Pujols obviously) with three hits and three RBIs, including a solo home run.

We showed our appreciation every time Pujols came to the plate, especially after his infield single in his last at-bat of the night and when he subsequently came out for a pinch runner.

That moment may have been the final time I ever see Albert Pujols play in person. And if it is, this time, he left on good terms.

Busch Stadium’s Where My Heart Is

Away games are fun, colorful and new, but after watching the Cardinals exclusively on the road for five straight games, it felt nice to click my Keds together and end up back at Busch Stadium.

There’s something refreshing about cheering along with your own family and 48,000 fans all wearing the same colors, wanting the same thing.

I’m still going to follow that yellow brick road that leads to the other 29 stadiums, but home will always be my happy place.

October: A Love Letter from a Spoiled, Dramatic Cardinals Fan

Everything about October is my favorite, and for the last three years, I’ve had some of the most Octobery Octobers you can imagine.

Pumpkin patches, apple orchards, bonfires, football games – you name a stereotypical October activity, and I probably did that … multiple times, complete with leggings and an oversized sweatshirt.

I lived in shades of mustard, burnt orange, maroon and brown and baked batch after batch of pumpkin cookies.

And you know what all that was? A cry for help.

I’ve come to realize that no amount of candy corn, blanket scarves, corn mazes or scary movies can heal a broken, baseball-less heart.

Ghosts of Octobers Past

Pumpkin is my favorite fall scent, and Mike Shannon is my favorite fall sound. Luckily, Cardinals fans have been spoiled with plenty of postseason baseball for Shannon to call.

In my lifetime, the Cardinals have made 13 trips to the postseason (not counting 2019), 10 to the National League Championship Series and four to the World Series.

I went to my first postseason game in 2002 with my dad. The Cardinals played the Giants in the NLCS. They lost, but my fandom shot to the next level. After seeing a postseason game firsthand, I wanted nothing more than to get there again and win the next time.

Postseason baseball is all the big moments.

It’s Jeff Suppan besting Roger Clemens in Game 7 of the 2004 NLCS with the help of a Jim Edmonds diving catch.

It’s Edmonds’ walk-off homer the night before.

It’s Adam Wainwright striking out Carlos Beltran in Game 7 of the 2006 NLCS to send the Cardinals to the World Series.

It’s being at Busch Stadium with my family in 2006, when the Cardinals won the World Series for the first time in my lifetime.

It’s watching Game 6 of the 2011 World Series with a bunch of Cubs fans.

But it’s also the little things.

It’s stopping on a country road to celebrate a home run in my Mitsubishi Eclipse as I raced home from high school to watch a game.

It’s wearing a Cardinals shirt almost every single day in October during my senior year of high school in 2006.

It’s pouting around a fire after hearing a gut-wrenching Cardinals’ loss at my family’s yearly bonfire in the woods – one of my favorite days of the year under normal circumstances.

It’s crying on my college apartment balcony an hour or so after Game 6 because I still couldn’t believe the Cardinals won.

I want that back.

The Cardinals missed the playoffs the last three seasons, and in their most recent appearance, they lost to the Cubs in the NLDS. It’s time.

Road to the Postseason

On Sunday, the Cardinals locked up the National League Central title with a 9-0 win over the Cubs in St. Louis. They had clinched a playoff berth in Chicago the weekend prior with a four-game sweep against the same foe.

Sound stress-free? It wasn’t.

Much like the entire season, the series in Chicago was a wild ride.

In the first game, the Cardinals gave up a 4-1 lead in the ninth, only to kill the Cubs rally with a Matt Carpenter homer in the 10th.

That home run set the stage for three more dramatic one-run wins, each in come-from-behind fashion. The final win secured at least a wild card spot and knocked the Cubs out of the division race.

Later that week, the Cardinals, riding a six-game winning streak, found themselves in a 19-inning marathon in Arizona after scoring one run in the first and giving up one run in the ninth.

A frustrated me was glued to the TV for the nearly seven-hour affair that ended after the clock struck 3:30 CT on a Wednesday morning.

The early-morning loss in the desert sent the Redbirds on a four-game losing skid. The second-place Brewers wouldn’t go away, and the magic number was still three going into the final weekend.

That weekend, the Rockies swept the Brewers. (Thank you, Colorado.) And the Cardinals salvaged a game after dropping the first two to the Cubs, winning 9-0 on Sunday to clinch the division title.

October Baseball

It’s October, and postseason baseball is in the air on this NLDS eve as I burn a pumpkin candle with “Nightmare on Elm Street” playing in the background.

I don’t intend to miss out on the pumpkin patches, bonfires or haunted houses.

But tomorrow, the Cardinals play baseball. And that’s my favorite kind of October.

Six Is a Serious Number

And … we’re back – Season 2, Episode 1, Ballpark No. 6.

Like any good Cardinals fan, I saved the best for sixth. It’s Busch Stadium time, and it’s a very special episode.

My sixth of 30 ballparks and first as a 30-year-old takes me to St. Louis for the grand return of Albert Pujols. And after five road games, I’m ready to root, root, root for the home team.

Six is special. Stan Musial (lovingly known as Stan the Man) wore No. 6.

Stan Musial statue
“Here stands baseball’s perfect warrior. Here stands baseball’s perfect knight.”

The stadium opened in 2006. The first World Series the Cardinals won in my lifetime was in 2006, and all Redbirds fans probably know On the Run Mobil’s “six is a serious number” bop.

I’ve been to Busch Stadium many times but never as a 30-year-old on a ballparking mission.

I don’t remember my first Cardinals game. I vaguely remember going to a game at old Busch with my cousins, sitting in the shade because it was hot and eating ice cream, but I have no idea whether or not that was my first game or how old I was.

I do remember my first game at new Busch Stadium, which also happened to be its inaugural game, Opening Day 2006.

I also remember the game I truly fell in love with the new ballpark, allowing it to surpass old Busch on my list of favorite places – Game 5 of the 2006 World Series, the clincher.

I (along with all Game 4 ticket holders) ended up seeing Game 5 rather than Game 4 because of a fortunately timed rainout two days prior. But that’s a story for another time.

I’ve been a Cardinals fan my entire life, and it got serious in 2002 when I went to a playoff game between San Francisco and St. Louis at old Busch, and former Giant Kenny Lofton almost got in a fight. I’ve been a die-hard fan ever since.

New Busch Stadium may be only 13 years old, but in that time, it’s hosted three World Series (2006, 2011, 2013), five National League Championship Series (2006, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014) and has seen postseason play in two additional seasons (2009, 2015).

It’s boasted two World Series champions (2006 and 2011) and hosted an All-Star Game in 2009.

Ballpark No. 6 is the most decorated venue I will have visited thus far.

Quick Cardinals History Lesson

The soon-to-be Cardinals joined the National League in 1892, when they were known as the Browns. They changed their name to the Cardinals in 1900.

They’ve since won 11 World Series (1926, 1931, 1934, 1942, 1944, 1946, 1964, 1967, 1982, 2006, 2011), the most in the National League and second-most in all of Major League Baseball (behind the Yankees’ 27).

The Cards’ current home is the third iteration of Busch Stadium, preceded by the coliseum-style Busch Stadium II (1966-2005) and original Busch Stadium, first called Sportsman’s Park (1920-1965). The Redbirds also played at Robinson Field, League Park and Union Park.

Pujols Homecoming

This game will mark the first time Albert Pujols and the Los Angeles Angels will play in Busch Stadium since No. 5 left in 2011. The three-time MVP will get one of the longest ovations of all time. Welcome back, Pujols. You can read all about what it means in my Pujols Homecoming post.

Game Preview
Angels vs. Cardinals
Busch Stadium
Friday, June 21, 2019
7:15 p.m. CT
Probable starting pitchers: LAA Griffin Canning (RHP) vs. STL Michael Wacha (RHP)

The Cardinals had the best record in baseball (20-10) at the end of the day on May 1 with a three-game lead in the NL Central. Then, the rest of May happened. The Cardinals went 9-18 that month (including the May 1 win).

As of the wee hours of June 20 (when I wrote this), they’ve stabilized somewhat, sitting only two games back in the division (thanks to a weak NL Central) at 38-35, and they’ve won seven of their last 10 (thanks to playing the Marlins a lot in the last week and a half).

The Angels are 38-37 and are also 7-3 in their last 10.

Will the Cardinals get back to their winning April ways, or were we all just April fools? We might not know until late September.

Note: I’m 3-2 in the Ballparking It era, and this will mark my first Friday game.

Pujols Homecoming: One More Dance

I don’t remember the first time I saw Albert Pujols play. He just kind of slipped into my everyday consciousness in the early 2000s and stayed there for a decade.

Pujols was a phenom, the lead singer on the soundtrack to my summers from junior high to college. I was lucky enough to see him play at both old Busch and new Busch on many occasions.

I wore his T-shirt, once bright red, until it was faded and stained. He gave me two rings. The bobblehead version of him was my voice of reason during the 2006 World Series run.

Me: Will we score this inning?

Pujols: Nods

Me: Nods back

With Pujols, the highs were oh so high. The Cardinals were perennial contenders. It was almost shocking if they weren’t in the NLCS.

During his St. Louis tenure, he brought home two World Series championships and made it to a third, won three MVPs, made nine All-Star rosters, was named Rookie of the Year … I could keep going.

He hit for power and for average, and in some ways, that feels old school now.

He was (and still is) one of the good ones, a family man, a charity guy. His Pujols Family Foundation helped (and still helps) kids with Down syndrome.

I consider Oct. 27, 2006, one of the greatest nights of my life, the first time my team won a championship in my lifetime. I was 18, a senior in high school. I wrote a 15-page paper about that World Series run, and Pujols was instrumental in making it all happen.

He was never my favorite player. That would have been like picking Michael Jordan. Too easy. No, he was my hero.

My hero gave me too many memorable moments to count – playoff runs, multi-home run games, clubhouse celebrations.

Both World Series wins and the 2004 NLCS top my list for Cardinals moments involving Pujols, but my favorite purely Pujols moment came in Game 5 of the 2005 NLCS when he broke Houston Astros closer Brad Lidge.

The Cardinals were down 3-1 in the series and trailing 4-2 in the top of the ninth. A David Eckstein single and Jim Edmonds walk set the stage for the knockout punch, one of Pujols’ most dramatic home runs of all time.

He sent the ball into orbit, Lidge’s career into a tailspin and the series back to St. Louis for Game 6, which the Cardinals ultimately lost, but that night, he was superhuman.

Six years and two World Series wins later, I was on the receiving end of the gut punch.

The Breakup

On Dec. 8, 2011, I went to my graduate assistant job as usual. Cardinals fans (including me) were on Pujols watch, waiting to see when he’d sign a contract and where he’d end up.

I knew he would stay in St. Louis, be a lifer, get a statue equal in size to Stan Musial’s, become a legend. I just knew it. No amount of money would take my hero away from Baseball Heaven.

I was wrong. I got a text from my brother sometime that morning (or maybe I texted him), and everything went downhill from there.

At some point, I realized I had been pulling all of the tape out of the tape dispenser for no reason. I spent the morning staring off into space in a haze and apparently making a mess.

I remember someone in the office saying, “It’s OK. Pujols wasn’t even the best player anyway,” in reference to 2011 World Series hero David Freese. Girl, please.

Money, dollar signs, cha-ching – my hero is a sellout. Everyone has a price. Those were the lessons I thought I learned that day.

I went through the motions of my afternoon, narrating them as I went.

“This is the first time (insert action) since I heard the news.” Again and again and again. I was a really strong mixture of sad and angry.

I threw away my overworn Pujols T-shirt, once much loved by its owner as evidenced by its stains. It was an intentional decision, not just a spur-of-the-moment reaction. I wanted to burn it but refrained.

Life moved on, and so did I. It didn’t hurt that the Cardinals also moved on quite well. The Redbirds reached the NLCS in 2012, World Series in 2013 and NLCS once again in 2014.

Over time, just as Pujols slipped into my everyday consciousness in 2001, my animosity toward him slipped right back out.

In recent years, I’ve occasionally flipped to Angels games to watch him chase milestones. He still makes me smile.

He’s no longer my hero, but he was for some of the most formative years of my life, and nothing will ever change that.

Homecoming

There have been seven full seasons of Pujols-less baseball in Busch Stadium since he left, but it’s finally time to welcome back an old friend.

(Cue whatever homecoming-themed song is your preference. Mine will always be Diddy.)

On Friday night, Yadier Molina, one of three remaining Cardinals who played with Pujols, will slowly dust off home plate while we give Pujols an hourlong standing ovation. (If there’s a rainout, he better at least give the fans a tarp slide.)

It will be a final magical chapter in the Pujols saga, but I still like to think that in a different timeline, Pujols stayed.

I keep my stained and faded T-shirt packed away for special occasions all seven World Series titles we’ve won since then. His plantar fasciitis keeps him out of the lineup from time to time, but there is never any question of who will be playing first base each spring.

He stayed in my everyday consciousness, and his bobblehead has stood on my desk the whole time. Cardinals fans lose their minds every time he nears his next milestone. His statue is already being built, and everyone knows which hat he’ll wear when he inevitably goes into the Hall of Fame.

He still gets regular curtain calls and messes with Fredbird once in a while. He’s a St. Louis legend, always a Cardinal, the greatest of all time.

A Pujols highlight reel still runs through my head every now and then, and on Friday, I’ll be looking at the real thing for the first time in a long time.

Someday, maybe I’ll watch a game with bobblehead Pujols again, reminiscing about the old times while witnessing yet another World Series championship run.

Albert, thanks for being a big part of my summer soundtrack for all those years. Thanks for the rings, the smiles, the stories, the memories. You’ll always be my generation’s baseball hero. Let’s forget the bad times and do this thing again. One more dance?

Opening Day Vibes

In honor of baseball making its grand return, I’m looking back at one of my favorite ballpark experiences, Opening Day at Busch Stadium in 2006.

Clydesdales 2006
Clydesdales on Opening Day 2006

Opening Day is like a holiday. By the time baseball finally comes out of hibernation, we’re hungry. We’ve watched an embarrassing number of TV shows throughout the winter and have the college basketball blues (or at least that’s true for me).

Then, baseball comes along and saves us from our TV-bingeing selves.

If your team opens on the road, you basically have two full days of celebration, Opening Day of Major League Baseball and Opening Day at home.

I’ve only been to one home opener in person, but that particular one was extra special, the inaugural game of Busch Stadium III on April 10, 2006.

I was a junior in high school and used an absence to go to the game. I had gone to my first prom two days earlier, so I was pretty tired, probably from walking around in a 10-pound dress, too much hairspray and a headful of bobby pins (and dancing to too much Lil Jon), but Opening Day woke me right up.

Opening Day 2006
Me on Opening Day 2006

I’m a nostalgic person and can find sentimental value in almost anything, so at first, I wasn’t sure how I would react to my favorite stadium in the world being destroyed and replaced.

(Spoiler alert: The 2006 season ended  with the Cardinals’ first World Series title in my lifetime, so I moved on pretty quickly.)

Despite my initial hesitance, I fell in love with the look and feel of new Busch Stadium almost immediately. I had been to AT&T Park (then-Pac Bell) in San Francisco a few years prior, so I was familiar with and already liked the retro look.

The new ballpark food was (and still is) amazing. I was fortunate to be at the stadium long enough to eat two meals, chicken tenders for lunch AND a hot dog for dinner. My dad tried the barbecue sandwich and ice cream and enjoyed both as well.

Me eating chicken tenders on Opening Day 2006

Although I loved (and still love) the beautiful view of the Gateway Arch in the outfield, I disliked (and still dislike) that new Busch isn’t nearly as loud as old Busch because of all that openness.

All in all, the good outweighed the bad, and I decided Busch Stadium III was a worthy replacement for the former stadium. I mean, it is Baseball Heaven and all.

My dad had only gone to one home opener prior to 2006. He and my brother went in 2004, when then-President George W. Bush threw out the first pitch. (They still reference seeing Secret Service snipers on top of the stadium.)

I’m told by pretty much all St. Louis media that Opening Day at Busch is like no other. I don’t know for sure because I haven’t witnessed Opening Day in any other baseball city, but I can confirm that Opening Day in St. Louis lives up to the hype.

Downtown St. Louis basically shuts down for a daylong party. Adults take off work, and kids skip school to head over to the game and welcome back their beloved Redbirds.

The pregame ceremony features a lap by the famous Budweiser Clydesdales, followed by the parade of Cardinals Hall of Famers riding around the warning track in the backs of Mustang convertibles. Then, the current players come out in their own motorcade.

Motorcade on Opening Day 2006

The current players shake the hands of Cardinals legends, like Bob Gibson, Lou Brock and Ozzie Smith, at home plate. (I’ve definitely teared up watching it a time or two.)

It’s magical. The Cardinals pack so much tradition and history into one day and somehow still manage to offer something new.

Opening Day of a new stadium made the whole experience even more unique (and historical). My dad and I were two of the first 41,936 (according to Baseball Reference) fans to explore the ballpark, and I’m grateful I had that opportunity.

Oh, and I almost forgot … what happened in the game?

Well, despite falling behind early, the Cardinals came away with a 6-4 win over the Brewers. Mark Mulder served up the first home run in the new ballpark, but he later (shockingly) hit one of his own. A guy named Albert Pujols did, too.

In the end, I had a great and memorable day skipping school for Opening Day and ballparking it in a brand-new stadium with my dad.

Opening Day 2006 Sights and Swag